Ranker’s Return

A black line appeared in the air, and its destination was Hu An’s neck. Tok. Hu An’s head fell to the ground with wide eyes. While Hu An had been perplexed by Hyeonu’s words, Hyeonu ambushed him and cut his head off.

‘Okay, it went as planned.’

[Hu An, the 1st group leader of the Secret Camp, has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Leaders of the Secret Camp Killed 1/50]

These messages appeared in front of Hyeonu the moment Hu An’s neck was cut. Hyeonu hurriedly placed the Mysterious Sky Sword back in the sheath and hid it in his inventory.

“Everyone, it is over. I will leave quickly.”

Then along with the frivolous comment to his viewers, he disappeared from the outskirts of Namju.

***

“Everyone, did you see it? My design? You didn’t expect me to kill one so early, right? Do you see the big picture?”

Hyeonu appeared in the administration room of Phinis and posed in the huge chair.

-I admit it.

-I acknowledge Alley Leader’s big picture.

-I can’t help acknowledging it this time.

-However, the real speed of the progress is ridiculous.

The viewers were also deeply impressed.

Alley Leader was really fast-paced. There was no other way he would have done it. He ended the quest early like his task was to just rip off a goblin’s finger, but even such an easy quest would take around a day. To be exact, it took Alley Leader five or six hours to finish his quest, yet he handled a much more difficult and complex quest than that. Of course, there had been suggestions from viewers, but Alley Leader had been the one who accepted a suggestion and implemented it in his own way.

“By the way... today’s stream is a bit empty. It feels like something is missing... Ah, what is it...?”

Hyeonu suddenly leaned down, placed his elbow on his knees, and tapped his chin with his fingers. He seemed to be contemplating something.

-Guys, it is here.

-It’s here today.

-It comes once a week.

-There is a 50% chance of appearing. It is too high.

As the viewers were quite familiar with Hyeonu’s sudden behavior, they managed to read the intent in his actions.

-Alley Leader is the Best Best Best has gifted you 11 gold coins.

-When is Tang-E Coming has gifted you 12 gold coins.

-My Love Tang-E has gifted you 13 gold coins.

-God Alley Leader has gifted you 14 gold coins.

The viewers gave gold coins. No, they were forced to give them. It was because this was what Hyeonu’s actions meant.

“Thank you, Alley Leader is the Best Best Best, for the 11 gold coins. Thank you, When is Tang-E Coming, for the 12 gold coins. He will come soon. Oh, he’s here. Thank you, My Love Tang-E, for the 13 gold coins. Tang-E will appear smoothly. Thank you, God Alley Leader, for the 14 gold coins! I love everyone.”

Hyeonu had kept to his word and called Tang-E here. The moment Tang-E appeared, he was held in Hyeonu’s arms. Tang-E cried out, “Master dude! Why did you call me?”

When he saw that Hyeonu wasn’t saying anything, Tang-E stopped complaining like he had noticed something. Then Tang-E said, “Did you cause an accident? Sigh, I thought this would be the case. Don’t do such things in the future.”

“What are you saying? What accident? It isn’t like that.” Hyeonu pressed against Tang-E’s head with force. Knock knock.

“It hurts, Master dude! Stop it!” Tang-E waved his paw toward Hyeonu due to the feeling that ran through his body. However, his short limbs couldn’t even touch Hyeonu. It was because Hyeonu had already moved Tang-E away from his body.

-Don’t bother Tang-E!

-This bully!

-Stop it!

Naturally, the viewers who saw it were resentful. Just then, Hyeonu’s mask shook. The shaking of the mask seemed to be ridiculing them.

-Uhh... I’m angry!

-Die, Alley Leader.

The viewers weren’t divided when Tang-E was caught; they didn’t care about Alley Leader at all.

“It is a joke, a joke. Come here. I’ll give you a hug.” Hyeonu took his hand off Tang-E’s head and opened his arms.

Tang-E saw it and jumped strongly toward Hyeonu.

“Groan. Aren’t you hugging me too tightly?” Hyeonu uttered.

“Don’t act, damn Master dude,” Tang-E mumbled from Hyeonu’s arms.

Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head.

“Then I will end the streaming here today. It is a bit early, but I think it’s right to end it now,” Hyeonu informed the audience suddenly.

-No, how much have you done...?

-Let’s do two more hours.

-No, even an hour...

They were sudden words for the viewers, but this was Hyeonu’s meticulous calculation.

‘I was lucky with the first one, but there is no guarantee the second will be like that.’

If Hyeonu got lost while finding the second leader, then it wouldn’t be the right timing to end the stream. This was clear. Moreover, it was likely this wouldn’t happen just once or twice.

‘I’d rather finish it here neatly instead of being scolded.’

“Instead, I’ll talk for the last 30 minutes. I’m not going to end it right now.”

Nevertheless, Hyeonu was still pushing and pulling to the end.

-I love you, Alley Leader.

-Let’s start talking quickly.

-I Love you has gifted you 37 gold coins.

The idea of simply having a chat was so wonderful that the audience were helplessly drawn in.

***

“Haah...! It’s over!” Hyeonu yelled while stretching.

Today’s stream was over. Hyeonu’s yell wasn’t because the stream had been boring or hard; it was just an expression of his pride. It was a relief that today’s stream ended normally without incident.

“Tang-E, do you want to go see our territory?”

Hyeonu decided to look around Phinis to relax.

“I don’t want to. There is nothing there. I’d rather go to another city.”

However, Tang-E had no intention of doing so. The reason was simple—Phinis wasn’t a big deal. What was there to see in a city that was just starting to recover? Was there a delicious restaurant or something interesting? There was nothing, only a few construction sites and workers.

“If you go, I’ll let you have a meat party on the walls. How about it, Tang-E?”

Hyeonu was also aware of this. That’s why he seduced Tang-E by throwing an unexpected bait, which was amazing.

“Oh...” Tang-E shook his head with a distressed face. He didn’t want to go to Phinis which was under construction, but he wanted to eat the meat that Hyeonu cooked. As such, Tang-E’s troubles didn’t last long.

“Let’s go, Master dude. It’s a meat party after all.”

He simply couldn’t resist the temptation of meat.

***

Tang-E touched Hyeonu’s leg and asked, “Master dude, what is this?” 

Hyeonu replied, “Who knows? I’m not sure because this is my first time seeing it. This is Phinis, right?”

As Tang-E and Hyeonu left the lord’s castle, they saw a strange sight. Phinis looked very peculiar. It seemed the entire city was under construction. East, west, south, and north—everywhere Hyeonu turned to look, it was all the same. Dozens of hundreds of people were carrying materials to construct buildings. There were even magicians drawing magic circles on buildings. However, it wasn’t only walls that were being constructed.

“What is going on?” Hyeonu couldn’t understand it properly and was also perplexed. His face turned red. It wasn’t simply due to confusion but because he was imagining something odd.

‘Why is so much construction being carried out?’ Hyeonu wondered. Then he ran silently with Tang-E. After dashing frantically, Hyeonu soon found a familiar man and called out, “Jerry! What is going on? I don’t think I’ve ever given a budget for this project?”

“My Lord, did you come?” Jerry greeted Hyeonu with respect. Jerry wore a red hat similar to a hard hat and was more like the manager of a construction site than the master of a commerce group.

“I’ll ask again. What money did you use to start construction all over Phinis? Did Phinis have enough money left to do so much?”

Even after seeing Hyeonu’s red face, Jerry wasn’t in a hurry and started to answer calmly, “Didn’t you know about it? Ah, I didn’t mention it... The cost of building the magic tower came from the imperial magic tower. It was at Sir Suped’s command. The costs of all the other projects are all paid for by His Majesty.”

‘The emperor gave money?’ Hyeonu started to look back through his memories.

Had the emperor said he would give money? Then one thing came to mind—Lebron. Hyeonu remembered what Lebron had said.

“Was that money brought with you when you first came with my Master?” 

“That’s right. It was brought along with the duke and the knights.”

Then another question arose again: why did the money in the territory’s vault run out? The construction costs had been paid entirely by the empire.

“So why was my money taken?”

“That was the order of His Majesty the Emperor. Unless the assets of the estate are less than 5,000 gold, it is necessary to get the proper repair fees...”

‘Shit!’ Hyeonu cursed inwardly. 

Upon hearing Jerry’s answer, Hyeonu felt a momentary appreciation for the emperor.

“In addition, he told us to stop construction if the assets don’t exceed 5,000 gold coins and we don’t receive the repair fee. So you should keep paying money like you’ve been doing.”

‘He is the devil, the devil.’ 

In Hyeonu’s mind, the emperor had already become a demon that sucked up his gold coins.

‘However, Lebron is a really good... NPC.’

Lebron was different from the emperor and was always a mentor to Hyeonu. It was Lebron who had gotten Hyeonu this support. Hyeonu remembered Lebron had headed to the imperial palace before Hyeonu came to Phinis.

“Then what is this? It doesn’t look like a building...?” Hyeonu said as he hit the rock in front of him. It was a rock of enormous size and more like a sculpture than a building material.

“Ah, you mean this? I am thinking of carving a huge statue. I expect it to be a representative specialty of this area,” Jerry spoke with overwhelming emotion as if announcing a grand dream. He was full of conviction; he was confident that the status would be one of the representatives of Phinis.

‘What is he going to sculpt?’ Hyeonu was curious because he had no idea about Jerry’s plan.

“What are you sculpting that makes you so confident about it? Are you going to sculpt His Majesty?” Hyeonu said this.

Yet inwardly, he wanted it to be a carving of himself.

Hyeonu had this feeling because it was something that was absolutely impossible to achieve in reality. Did he read Hyeonu’s heart? Jerry pointed to Hyeonu.

‘Does that mean he is carving me?’ Hyeonu was fantasizing it.

Then Jerry opened his mouth and said, “I will sculpt...”

Hyeonu didn’t hear Jerry’s words properly and asked again, “What do you want to sculpt?”

So that Hyeonu could hear it clearly, Jerry repeated what he’d said: “I will sculpt Tang-E.”